Support crews for extended, complex events help create a party atmosphere, I know.
The Tour de France teams each have a large retinue of helpers taking care of their riders and equipment and everything else.
Then there are the event officials, media and security — vehicles buzz everywhere.
In another favorite event of mine, the AuSable Canoe Marathon, teams often have family members “pitting” them down the river, all night long. The pit crew — when younger or teens — then in turn often have their friends along for the fun of all all-night event.
Still, I think there’s something to be said for reducing the “footprint” of events in every way possible.
Such an approach, of course, reduces all impacts — which I suppose is obvious since footprint means impact. It also reduces overheads and would seem to democratize an event, making it more accessible to people with fewer resources or with less money to pay (or raise) for running the event.
But it also emphasizes the participants more. It would make them take care of themselves, and even control/police themselves.
I’m talking about Self-Supported Events. In such events, the participants are no longer strictly specialists but have to be more like regular people. This would seem to suggest a greater quality of achievement, because any success necessarily covers more bases than when help is close at hand.
A notion of less officiating puts the spotlight on the participants and their ability to problem-solve and use good judgement. Spectators would be watching for this and responding to it.
I note that tennis — at the High School level, anyway — uses self-officiating. You call your opponent’s shots and they call yours. It all works out. This should probably be done at the higher and pro levels as well.
Character really comes to the forefront with self-officiating. Player / audience interaction would increase as well.
